This study explores a phenomenon in Japanese conversation that might be
regarded as “discourse-within-a-sentence,” or interpolating a sequence of
talk during ongoing sentence construction. It explicates the way in which
Japanese speakers use postpositional particles as a resource to incorporate
an element in a parenthetical sequence into the syntax of a sentence-inprogress.
It is shown that the usability of postpositions for achieving
discourse-within-a-sentence comes from the situated workings of postpositions
used in a wider range of interactional contexts. Through a
detailed examination of relevant instances from transcribed Japanese
conversations, this study addresses such issues as (i) “sentences” in interaction
as both a resource for, and an outcome of, intricate interactional
work; (ii) postpositions as resources for retroactive transformations of turnshapes
in Japanese; and (iii) the relationship between typological features
of the grammar of a language and forms of interactional practices.

Issue Date:

2004-07

Publisher:

Cambridge University Press

Citation Info:

M. Hayashi (2004). Discourse within a sentence: An exploration of postpositions in Japanese as an interactional resource. Language in Society 33(3): 343-376.